Annual Save a Life tour to be postponed until spring

Every year, the Plattsburgh State Student Association hosts the Save a Life tour to educate students about the dangers of distracted driving.

This year’s event, originally scheduled for Oct. 15, will now be postponed until the spring semester because of the program’s unavailability during that date.

SA Vice President for Student Affairs Royston Peters has been in charge of planning the event, along with Teresa Aniceto, vice president for activities.

The October event was expected to feature the same activities as last November’s tour, including distracted driving simulators, guest speakers and engaging presentations that help students learn about the dangers of distracted and drunk driving.

Peters said he had been corresponding with Frank Mitidieri, a representative from The International Save a Life Tour Education Systems Support, Inc., since late August and believed the date was concrete, but because of an apparent miscommunication, the appearance fell through.

“I’m definitely disappointed,” Peters said. “This is one of the most successful events that we put on, but it’s not completely canceled, so it’ll still happen, just next semester.”

According to the Save a Life website, each event is eight hours long, including two 50-minute lecture presentations.

“Our objective is to use every method at our disposal to bring home the reality of the dangerous practice of distracted driving because it has eclipsed drunk driving as the number one safety concern of the driving public,” the website said.

Peters said the Save a Life group will not be available to return to the Plattsburgh area until March 2015, which is when he would hope to plan the event.

However, each SA position ends after the fall semester, so the next vice president for student affairs will take over the planning for the event.

Last year, then VP for Student Affairs Susanne Fenton and Senator Johanceli Rojas planned the event, which took place Nov. 18.

“While we’ve never really seen a big issue with drunk driving here at Plattsburgh, it’s still very important for us to be aware of the dangers,” Fenton said in a Cardinal Points article. “I’m excited for it. And by that I just mean that I think it’ll be a really good reality check for students and really everyone who decides to get involved.”

Anyone interested in helping to plan the Save a Life event can head over to the Student Association office, located on the second floor of the Angell College Center.